Eicosapentaenoic acid, also called EPA, is one of the omega-3 essential fatty acids that you need for good health. You must get it from dietary sources such as salmon and tuna or from fish oil supplements because your body can't make it in sufficient quantities. Clinical trials have indicated that patients suffering from depression can benefit from treatment with EPA alone or in combination with standard antidepressant medications.
Depression
People with depression have prolonged feelings of sadness, anxiousness, hopelessness and guilt. These feelings can be overwhelming to the point where depressed people can't carry out their normal daily activities. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, depression arises from a confluence of genetic, environmental, psychological and biochemical factors. Standard treatment for depression includes serotonin and norepinephrin reuptake inhibitors such as venlafaxine and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as sertraline. Other treatments include psychotherapy and, for cases of severe depression, electroconvulsive therapy.
Eicosapentaenoic Acid and Bipolar Depression
Bipolar depression can be difficult to treat with standard antidepressants because these medications may trigger episodes of mania. In the June 2005 issue of "The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry," researchers report the results of a clinical trial of eicosapentaenoic acid for the treatment of bipolar depression. The scientists administered 1.5 to 2 g of EPA per day to the study subjects over the course of six months, and eight of 10 patients showed improvement of their depression symptoms. The treatment did not cause any adverse effects, and no episodes of mania occurred.
Depression in the Elderly
In an article published in the May 2008 issue of "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," researchers discuss their findings on the relationship between plasma levels of eicosapentaenoic acid and symptoms of depression in a group of elderly study subjects. The scientists assembled a group of 1390 patients, and the average age of the group members was 74.6. They found that among the patients taking antidepressants, the higher the plasma level of EPA, the lower the severity of the depression symptoms.
Large-Scale Clinical Trial
ScienceDaily.com summarizes an article that appeared in the June 2010 issue of the "Journal of Clinical Psychiatry" in which researchers describe the results of the largest clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of EPA in treating patients with major depression. The volunteers for this study were assembled in such a way as to reflect the complexity of the major depression cases of individuals treated in doctor's offices and in outpatient clinics. The subjects included people with major depression resistant to treatment with standard antidepressants and those with depression complicated by an anxiety disorder. Over the course of eight weeks, half of the 432 study subjects took three capsules per day of an omega-3 supplement containing a high concentration of purified EPA, and the other half took a placebo. The scientists found that depression symptoms improved in patients who took EPA if they did not have an accompanying anxiety disorder.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Eicosapentaenoic Acid; September 2008
- National Institute of Mental Health; Depression; May 2011
- "The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry"; Omega-3 Eicosapentaenoic Acid in Bipolar Depression: Report of a Small Open-Label Study; Yamima Osher, et al.; June 2005
- "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Plasma Eicosapentaenoic Acid Is Inversely Associated With Severity of Depressive Symptomatology in the Elderly: Data From the Bordeaux Sample of the Three-City Study; Evelyne Peuchant et al.; May 2008
- ScienceDaily.com; Treating Depression With Omega-3: Encouraging Results From Largest Clinical Study; June 2010
